THE STAGES OF LEARNING AND REJUVENATING

MY TEACHERS

"Which cereal bar will you have Aaria", I ask showing her the green, blue and pink bars. "Geen",she says. She is three years old.

While travelling in the car she suddenly says to her mother, "Mummy, I've got cupcakes". 

It took me a while to figure that one out! She had heard us earlier in the day saying, "Oh Aaria has got hiccups!" Hiccups sounded like cupcakes to her! Simple! To this wizard of words, I am her "friendly dada",she loves to tease me and refuses to call me dadi. Only recently when I spoke with her on Skype from London she called me "Naughty Dadi"

Aaliya age seven, asked me this morning,why I was wearing jeans when I usually wear those 'fluffy bags'? Come again, what was that?? I had to think, and then it dawned on me that she was talking about the "Salwar", if you please!

Oh yes indeed, this is the  the world of children and their innocent, sweet sounding words! They are like honey to our time worn ears, which usually hear sane, sarcastic, serious or busy words!

Honestly, I couldn't stop laughing. One of these days’ people from the sane world may brand me an old woman going a little wonky in the head. I keep laughing at the oddest of times and the oddest of places, when I suddenly remember words spoken by my dearest clan of the youngest generation. Some of their observations are so funny. It is how they understand and use their words, which makes all the difference in the world to an observer. Childish prattle and innocence are the fresh air that we need to revitalize our lives in this mundane world. Children do not have preconceived notions, they are eager to observe and learn. They have no bias and no phobias. They are willing to accept whatever we teach them. It is up to us to fill their minds with our phobia or allow them to grow up in a free world with free ideas. Leaving them to explore the world with a bit of guidance is a good idea. Just show them the path and let them explore. If their goals are clear and their journey is watched over by us, these children will go forth and enjoy life as it is meant to be. They should not be too free as to go astray, and not too straitjacketed as to feel stifled. I know it is a tough choice, but each one has to find their own threshold, as each child is unique.

One day I was telling Aaria, that we have to eat. She says, " No, it is not a good idea to eat". I told her that we need to eat to grow up and be big. Aaria said, "I don't want to grow big, I want to be gorgeous like Didi". Coming from a three year old this sentence totally zapped me, but then that's how it is. I told myself that I better get used to this new world. "I buyed it, I tooked it"...my pretty grand daughters have figured out that there is a past tense, and this was their way to express the deed done in the past. How logical!. Good conclusion, I say.

These little babes have their DS( Double screen),Nintendo, they play on the I- phone, they know which particular TV show they want to see. They take decisions when they are given choices. Usually their decisions are right.

Aaria rattles off the names of the planets and knows we live on earth and that mercury, which she pronounces as mertuti is closest to the sun. She knows there is an "entire world", for which she wants to bake cookies!

THE PLANETS

At age three, did I understand that there was a Solar system? The world is developing very fast, although time is moving at its own pace. We travelers have to gear ourselves to be aware of the new developments. Life has come a full circle, as I often have to ask my grand son Kunaal to help me with one of the latest applications on my I phone or latest gadget that I have acquired. He is very aware, observant and grasps everything very fast. The children of today solve latest gadget problems in a jiffy, without referring to any manuals.

When I was a child, in my Convent school, we were told, children should be seen and not heard! Times, thinking, values, have since changed. We need to change our own thinking and accept that child is indeed father of man. We, of the old school sit in our isolated tower where we think that we are wise, old and knowledgeable and that  everyone must turn to us for advice. This thinking is now old belief. It is time for us to understand that we are ALWAYS in the learning stage. One has the capability to learn - always. We simply need to keep our mind open, our faculties alert and not sit satisfied that we have already been there, done that. In this fast changing scenario, age is all in the mind. Once people thought that they were too old to learn. Today we know that the brain cells keep rejuvenating themselves if they are allowed to grow and keep themselves fresh. Let us do that. Keep alive, alert and youthful. Be with it, with the times and see how life turns more beautiful as we go back to the school of learning.

ALIVE